The Ribbon Proposal
by 18087
Summary: Purebloods being purebloods always got what they wanted, and Viktor Krum was no exception, and he wanted Harry Potter
1. Prologue

DISCLAIMER: I do not own the rights to Harry Potter etc. I'm sure you can fill in the rest.

Prologue

In Wizarding Society purebloods were accustomed to getting whatever they wanted, from the latest broom to a new manor house complete with house elves. However historically wealthy pureblood heirs had a problem in successfully wooing the perfect spouse; mostly of course because they had been spoilt and pampered for their entire lives and as such normal wholesome people wanted very little to do with them. Consequently, purebloods being purebloods passed a new international law – the Ribbon law – as it became commonly known. This law stated that any pureblood heir of a certain rank, once they were of age, could sent off a letter of courting bound with a red ribbon, and the recipient could not refuse the proposal. Of course some safeguards were put in place to protect future spouses, but these were few and far between.

Over time the Great pureblood families died out until only 8 were left throughout Europe and as the Great pureblood families were the only ones with sufficient rank to send a Ribbon proposal, these too faded into obscurity, that is until October 1995 when once again a Ribbon proposal appeared sending shock waves throughout the Wizarding world.


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Harry Potter leaned against the walls of the Ravenclaw common room and sighed. He was back for his 5th year at Hogwarts and despite his loving the old castle with its secrets and knowledge; he wasn't looking forward to the upcoming year. His previous years at Hogwarts had been filled with danger, prejudice and fear, and all of his "adventures" had slowly but surely dulled his appetite for learning more about the Wizarding world.

It was the expectations that annoyed him the most, how the Wizarding world had idolised him before they knew him, before he even really knew himself. He was to be a Gryffindor, he was to be averagely bright, he was to be anti-pureblood rights, he was to save the world...the list was never ending. Sadly for both him and the Wizarding world he had had very little intention of being any of those things. Instead he was sorted into Ravenclaw, the top of his year, a quiet and humble magical prodigy who was something of a loner.

Of course the last requirement was not necessarily by choice, as Weasley and Granger from Gyrffindor had attached themselves to him as soon as he had boarded the train, and had proceeded to follow him around ever since, and between the pair of them and his own reticent nature any other potential friends had been warned off. Unfortunately for him the Dreadful Duo each year got embroiled in "adventures" and dragged him unwillingly behind them, somehow always chickening out before it got too dangerous and leaving him to do the life threatening bits. It was incredibly wearing. In fact if it wasn't for the fact that the Dursleys was almost certainly worse than the deepest pits of hell, he probably would have looked for an out years ago.

Harry looked around, and upon seeing that everyone else had left the common room cast a disillusionment charm and a silencing charm upon himself and headed for the Room of Requirement. He had discovered the room in his first year when he had been desperately trying to dodge the Dreadful Duo and had relied on it ever since. He entered the room and sighed in relief as his usual room appeared. He removed the spells and stripped to his underwear before looking at himself in the mirror. He smiled grimly, the nutrient potions he had been brewing for himself seemed to have worked; the Dursleys starving him certainly seemed to have less of an effect that year. Rather sadly he doubted he'd ever recover his height and grow any taller than his current 5"11, but it certainly could be worse! He dropped the glamour and sighed again. In his second year the nutrient, bone strengthening and oculus potions had reacted badly with the polyjuice that he'd been forced to take and it had brought out a dormant creature inheritance. Thankfully it had clearly been many generations back and so he had simply gained pale, creamy and slightly luminous skin that never seemed to tan, slightly brighter eyes and improved sight – although that might simply have been a result of the boomslang skin reacting with the oculus potion, he wasn't sure – and finally his untameable hair had grown down to his waist in silky raven waves. At the time he had simply cut it and assumed that would be the end of the problem, but the bloody stuff had grown straight back. In desperation he had resorted to simple glamours to hide his hair and skin.

With a flick of his wrist he was dressed again and he sat in a comfy armchair and began to go over his Gringotts files. In his third year during his extended stay in Diagon Alley that summer he had set up a meeting with the goblins about his inheritance. It had been depressing. It had turned out that although he did have several properties they were all in lockdown and he couldn't touch them until his 17th birthday, so sadly he couldn't leave the Dursleys. Furthermore, despite the fact that his trust fund would get him easily through Hogwarts, the main Potter fortune was largely depleted, having been used largely to fund the war. It had not however been entirely bad news as he had also inherited several smaller fortunes from people leaving money to "the boy-who-lived". He had initially felt bad about taking the money, but if he had wanted to rebuild the Potter fortunes he had no choice. And indeed, slowly but surely he had rebuilt the Potter fortune with a series of smart investments.

However just when he had managed to sort out the Potter fortune his godfather had been declared insane by the goblins – no surprises there – and therefore unfit to manage the Black vaults, and as he had been claimed Sirius' heir he had spent a large part of that summer sorting out the stagnant Black finances. They had been worse than the Potter fortune to sort out, as the Blacks had money in everything, legal or not, and it taken some careful manoeuvring to pull himself out of all investments of dubious legality and solidify the fortune. It was looking good at the moment however, and he had managed to find several Black properties on the continent and beyond in a decent state of repair, somewhere to live when he enacted plan slip away.

Harry was a very politically savvy young man, and after having seen that his parents' will had been sealed by Albus Dumbledore, and the man's encouragement of the Dreadful duo and his constant refusals to remove Harry from the Dursleys – and that was before he even got into the little series of tests set up each year – Harry understood that Dumbledore had hoped to find him a malleable young man. Unfortunately Dumbledore had miscalculated as Harry hated conflict and violence; psychologically he knew that it stemmed from his childhood and his fear of Vernon Dursley coupled with the lack of help from authority figures, but the result was that Harry was not mentally cut out for a fight and he knew it. Sadly Wizarding Britain disagreed.

Harry sighed again. It was almost time – Voldemort had returned at the end of that awful Triwizard Tournament – and Britain was looking to him. Plan slip away would need to be a go after his OWLs; he already had an application to Durmstrang set up, and he was fluent in German, so as soon as Voldemort openly made a move he was gone.

That summer while he had been dealing with the Black fortune he had begun to move the majority of his assets out of Britain, slowly so the he didn't alert anybody to what he was doing. The goblins had strict instructions to move the rest of his assets and vaults to their Swiss Branch until he decided which country he would live in the day after his OWLs. A little known fact was that magical education was only compulsory until you had completed your OWLs, after that you were free to start a career; of course you weren't very employable, but with his money he had enough that, as long as he was careful, he would never have to work in the conventional sense, so if Durmstrang rejected his application it would not be the end of the world. He could even take his NEWTs independently at the German ministry if necessary.

A pop distracted him and he turned to see Winky his house elf holding an owl and looking at him nervously. Harry had bound Winky to him as soon as he'd found her freed in the kitchens, he had understood her value, and she had been a god send at the Dursleys, as well as a wonderful means of communication between himself and the goblins. He had a horrible suspicion that Dumbledore was monitoring his post.

"Master Harry Potter sirs" squeaked Winky "The goblinses is saying that Master Harry's German and French citizenship is granted sir and Winky has the documents. They is also sayings that the Swiss, Australian and New Zealand citizenships has been approved and they is just waiting for documents. The house elves from the Black properties in France, Germany and New Zealand is saying to tell Mater Harry Potter that they is ready and the wards is up. The Australian house elves is not yet ready sir, they is sayings that the house is in a bad way sir, and they needs more time."

Harry smiled fondly at Winky, "thank you Winky. Is that all?"

WInky suddenly looked nervous. She shifted slightly and held out her right arm. The owl that had been perched there took flight and landed on the table in front of Harry and stuck out a leg. Attached to the leg was an expensive parchment scroll bound with a red ribbon.

"oh shit"

.


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Harry's thoughts swirled in circles as Binns droned on about yet another goblin war; he could honestly say that the Ribbon proposal had been a shock, and yet it might just be the answer that he was looking for. His thoughts were in chaos, if he accepted the proposal – not that there really was much of a choice – would he simply be exchanging one prison for another? Of course he would become untouchable by Voldemort and the Ministry, but other expectations would be laid upon him.

Although in the muggle world the Austria – Hungary Empire had fallen, it hadn't in the magical world, if he became the consort to Grand Duke Viktorinus Krum it would be social obligations that he would need to fulfil, not to mention that he would be committing to bearing children. What's more he didn't even really know Victor Krum, they hadn't really interacted much during the Tournament, and there only other interaction had been at the quidditch world cup. He had been invited by the Weasley family, and Dumbledore had "kindly" agreed for him and made the arrangements. However during the Death Eater activity he had gotten separated and run into Viktor Krum, who had grabbed him and they had hidden together. No words had been exchanged, but Viktor had escorted him back to the Weasley's tent, and according to the letter, been nursing a secret passion for him ever since.

Harry sighed yet again – it was becoming something of a habit – and ran his fingers through his glamoured hair. He didn't know enough about pureblood customs to know if he could refuse, but he didn't think he could and he wasn't even sure he wanted to. Agreeing to marry Viktor Krum solved all his problems. He sighed again and the bell rang. Binns floated back out through the board and Harry made a choice.

As the class woke up and exited he called out "Malfoy!". Movement ceased. Harry supposed he shouldn't really be surprised, he wasn't the most social of people. Slowly and with much muttering the class left; Harry could only be thankful that the Gryffindors weren't in this lesson. Eventually only he and Malfoy were left.

Malfoy raised a blond eyebrow, "Potter?" he drawled.

Harry took a breath and uttered words that he knew would cost him, "Malfoy...Draco...I need your help."

A look of glee spread slowly across Draco's face. "My help? What could Ravenclaw's little prodigy possibly need my help with?"

Harry reached reluctantly into his pocket and withdrew the scroll still bound with the condemning red ribbon. At once Malfoy's demeanour changed.

"Alright Potter, I'll help you, but I want something in return"

Harry nodded slowly "what?"

Malfoy ran a hand through his hair looking a little relieved and a little desperate, "The war Potter. This gets you out free, which all but condemns the light, but what I want is a promise that if it all goes sideways you'll get me out of Britain alive and sane with all my family assets and set me up legally in France. I do this for you, I explain pureblood intricacies and tutor you, and you have my back if it all goes wrong".

Harry nodded slowly again, in the greater scheme of things this wasn't much to ask, and if he married Krum would be well within his power. "Deal"

Both boys reached out and shook hands magically sealing the deal.

"We'll meet each night; meet me on the 7th floor near the tapestry of the ballet dancing trolls at 7 tonight." Harry turned to leave, "and Malfoy, thanks."

.


	4. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Over the next few months Harry met Draco every night in the Room of Requirement to learn everything that he felt that he might need to know. It would be one thing to deliberately insult someone with his actions, but quite another to do it accidentally. Thus he was learning how to walk, talk, sit, what cutlery to use, when to bow and a myriad of other skills. Of them all, the penmanship and calligraphy ones were perhaps the most tiresome. He had always been rather proud of his writing considering that quills hadn't been natural to him. He was almost 100% certain that his writing was better than any other muggleborn in the school, and as he had been muggle-raised this was the group he chose to compare himself to. Even Draco had grudgingly admitted that his writing was legible, however that was good enough apparently, so here he was again lethargically copying out letters.

He had also had been frequently exchanging letters with Viktor. At first it had felt uncomfortable, but after being told by Draco in no uncertain terms that there was no way out of the betrothal, he had made a real effort to actually get to know Viktor. He also had some unknown deity to thank for the fact that Winky had managed to intercept every single one of Viktor's owls before they had reached the Great Hall, so for now no one but he and Draco were aware of the truth.

And hadn't that development sparked the rumour mill? The Dreadful Duo in particular had been outraged, and seemed to enjoy cornering him at least three times a day to express it. Draco seemed to be taking a perverse amount of pleasure in deliberately being seen with him in secluded places – never doing anything inappropriate – but the implication that they were lovers was easy to read and spread through the school like wildfire.

As for Draco, apparently he wanted to be declared Harry's vassal. This essentially meant that Harry was Draco's Lord and Master, and should Draco die childless Harry would inherit the Malfoy fortune. For Draco it meant that any children would also be sworn into the service of Harry's family, the Krums, and as one of the few remaining Great Pureblood families that would essentially cloak Draco from almost all national laws. As long as Draco could claim that he was acting under Harry's and by extension Krum's orders, he could not by prosecuted by the Ministry of the Wizengamot nor could his assets be confiscated.

Harry could understand the appeal for Draco, it meant that when he was inevitably forced to become a Death Eater, his actions would be claimed under those of a private informant, much like Snape's had been in the first war. No Harry understood. The only stumbling point however was him marrying Krum. Politically he could see the advantages, but emotionally he was finding it difficult. It wasn't that he disliked Krum, he didn't, it was that he just didn't know him. Furthermore those blasted didn't really help as he couldn't ask certain questions or discuss specific topics according to these blood pureblood rules about what was and was not appropriate.

Harry sighed and stood up with the rest of his class and headed out of History of Magic only to immediately be cornered by Weasley and Granger. He ignored them and headed to lunch with the rest of the school. As he sat down at the end of the Ravenclaw table he heard Granger and Wealsey join him and he sighed again. He blanked them out and started to eat his lunch. He had learnt early on in their "friendship" that Granger would lecture whether he was listening or not, so he chose to tune out whenever he saw her open her mouth. Weasley by comparison would be too busy eating like it was his last meal to say anything.

He was so lost in his thoughts in fact that he didn't notice Granger stop talking. In fact he didn't notice the silence that had spread through the entire Hall. An annoyed hoot broke his concentration.

It was then that he noticed the silence and he looked up with a growing sense of dread. There was Viktor's owl sitting there regally and surveying the hall with a look of disdain. And on the owl's leg was a roll of expensive parchment bound with a red ribbon. The owl fixed him with a piercing look. Harry sighed and briefly closed his eyes in horror before steeling himself and taking the scroll.

Immediately chatter broke out again in the Great Hall. Mercifully Granger still seemed to be gobsmacked. He got up quickly and gathered his things, but before he could leave…

"Mr Potter" Dumbledore sounded markedly less genial and grandfatherly than usual, "if you wouldn't mind coming to my office to discuss this…development."

Harry sighed before pivoting on his heel and heading away from freedom and towards Dumbledore's office. Dumbledore gave the password, "starburst", before they both, accompanied by Professors Flitwick and McGonagall headed up the stairs and into Dumbledore's office.


End file.
